Viewers gravitating toward NFL Network draft coverage

The overnight Nielsen numbers for Thursday night’s NFL Draft are in, and while the total rating (5.8) was even with last year, the NFL Network again increased its portion of the audience at ESPN’s expense.

While nearly four out of five draft watchers still prefer ESPN, the percentage five years ago more than nine out of every 10 viewers tuned to ESPN rather than the NFL Network. This is the first year that NFL Network has been available to Time Warner subscribers during the draft.

According to the chart below (ratings numbers courtesy Sports Business Daily), only once has the NFL’s share of the draft audience decreased in the past five years. Last night’s ratings represent a 20 percent jump in audience share from 2012, and a 112 percent increase from 2008.